CEMEX Plant Chimney base brought down

Things didn't go entireley to plan with the CEMEX plant chimney demolition leaving part of the chimney still standing in September. At the time Dick Green explained what happened:

The charges detonated OK and the mouth formed, as it started to topple forward the top section detached (unusually) before the bottom section went over its centre of gravity, and there was then not enough leverage to bring it over before the heel failed. It was only 300mm thick at the base.

It is in a safe stable condition, so the High reach we had as a contingency on site is going to ramp up 5m and nibble it down.

Now the rest of the chimney has finally come down. According to the description on the YouTube page men were hoisted up in a man cage to place large strops around the chimney remains. You can see the last moments of the weakened chimney base in the video above.

Source: Demolition News

CEMEX plant chimney blowdown first footage

Below is the first footage that has appeared of the CEMEX plant chimney blowdown that happened yesterday in Rochester. Unfortunately things didn't go entireley to plan leaving part of the chimney still standing.



Dick Green, who carried out the blowdown, explained what happened:

"The charges detonated OK and the mouth formed, as it started to topple forward the top section detached (unusually) before the bottom section went over its centre of gravity, and there was then not enough leverage to bring it over before the heel failed. It was only 300mm thick at the base.

It is in a safe stable condition, so the High reach we had as a contingency on site is going to ramp up 5m and nibble it down."

There's more video footage and news on what will happen to the site over at the BBC.